Ed’s inbox – June 15th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

If Ed Miliband could only read five blogposts each day, he’d read these ones…

Where’s the Shadow Cabinet? – New Statesman
By Mehdi Hasan

If Ed Miliband is under fire, doesn’t he need public and visible backing from his frontbench colleagues?

NS blogger Dan Hodges has referred to it as Ed Miliband’s “Bloody Sunday” – Sunday 12 June. It was the day that the Independent on Sunday, the Observer, the Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday – which ran extracts from my new biography of the Labour leader – all contained stories about plots, coups and threats to Miliband’s leadership – specifically, from his elder brother David.

In my feature in tomorrow’s New Statesman, I point out that the real damage to Ed Miliband may have been done by his frontbench colleagues – who were nowhere to be seen on the Sunday. – Read more.

Ed Miliband 100% right at PMQs – Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
By Sue Marsh

Ed Miliband is 100% right to say at PMQs that 7000 cancer patients will be affected by the time limit on ESA.

The real scandal is that 700,000 other people with serious conditions, found not fully fit for work will also be affected and lose all of their contributory ESA after 1 year. – Read more.

Thirty cancer charities oppose David Cameron on benefit cuts – Political Scrapbook
By Political Scrapbook

PMQs saw David Cameron struggling to justify measures in the Welfare Reform Bill which will penalise cancer patients whose recovery means they are unable to work for more than one year. Ed Miliband made particular reference to lobbying on the issue by the charity MacMillan Cancer Support.

While emphasising that they wished to work constructively with the government to resolve the issue, MacMillan later told Sky News that:

“It was clear that David Cameron wasn’t on top of all the details.” – Read more.

Govt figures show thousands of cancer patients will lose benefits – Liberal Conspiracy
By Don Paskini

Research by Macmillan Cancer Support suggested that around 7,000 people who are suffering from cancer will lose an average of £94 per week as a result of the government’s welfare reform bill.

Macmillan will have access to data which isn’t publicly available in calculating these figures. But publicly available statistics from the Department of Work and Pensions’ website seem to support their figures. – Read more.

Don’t listen to the sceptics – India’s poorest will die without our aid – Left Foot Forward
By Anas Sarwar MP

There has been recent controversy over the government’s decision to continue its aid programme to India. Some argue that as India is the fourth largest economy in the world, with a space programme and an aid programme of its own, it should not receive support from the UK, particularly at a difficult time for our own economy.

Yet these bare facts do not tell the whole story. – Read more.

Our suggestions for Ed’s inbox are limited by what we read – so if you’ve seen a blogpost that should be in Ed’s inbox, let us know.